Gull and Bones is book 8 in the Seaside Knitters Society series by Salley Goldenbaum. Even though this is book 8, I feel that it could be read as a standalone novel, although the number of characters may be overwhelming for a reader who is new to the series.
I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t read any of the previous books in the series, but for some reason the story didn’t grab me from the beginning, and it really didn’t improve much from there for me.
The story begins as residents of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts are planning to celebrate the 100th birthday of long-time resident Angus McPherron, the man some call the old man of the sea. Angus is found dead just a few days before his birthday, and at first his death is believed to be a natural one, until another man is attacked and the police look more closely at Angus’s death.
This sounded like a really interesting mystery, but it fell flat for me. Other than the fact that Angus’s killer was unknown, this didn’t feel like a typical mystery to me. I felt like there was very little actual investigation, just people spreading gossip and jumping to conclusions.
A very large portion of the book was spent with residents just reminiscing about their memories of Angus, which was nice, but felt out of place in a mystery novel.
My other problem with this was the large cast of characters, and the multiple points of view the novel was written from. I don’t mind a novel with a large cast of characters, or even multiple points of view, but in this case I had a hard time determining, or remembering, which point of view I was reading from, because the voice of each of the characters felt the same to me. For me, it made the book much less enjoyable than if the author had focussed on one main character’s point of view.
For me Gull and Bones was just an okay read, although if you like your mysteries to have a strong sense of community, you may enjoy this one.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Gull & Bones will be available on November 25 2025.
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